Here’s when the government shutdown will hurt even more

What happens when the government shuts down?

The world won't end if Washington can't find a way to pass a funding bill. That's the truth about a government "shutdown": the government doesn't shut down.
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The world won't end if Washington can't find a way to pass a funding bill. That's the truth about a government "shutdown": the government doesn't shut down.
By

WASHINGTON

Disputes over funding for a border wall between triggered a partial government shutdown Dec. 22 — and there’s no apparent end to the impasse.

Agencies out of money include the Departments of Treasury, Homeland Security, Interior, State, Agriculture, Justice, Commerce, Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Also affected are several smaller departments.

In addition to more abstract ways the partial government shutdown obviously gets worse as time goes on, such as more work piling up and additional trash and waste in non-staffed national parks, the longer the shutdown goes, the worse the pain. A timeline of what’s to come:

JANUARY 11: Friday marked the end of the first pay period that fell entirely within the shutdown, meaning furloughed employees will first miss a paycheck covering that pay period on Jan. 11. This excludes employees of the Coast Guard, which were paid through Dec. 31, so they will receive a partial paycheck on Friday.

JANUARY 11: Federal court operations will be curtailed. Courts have been operating by using court fees and other revenue, but officials have said they’ll have to re-evaluate after Jan. 11.

JANUARY 12: The shutdown becomes the longest on record, surpassing the previous 21-day record that spanned from December 1995 to January 1996.

JANUARY 28: One function the shutdown should not affect: The Internal Revenue Service will begin processing tax returns, and, it said in a statement Monday, will “provide refunds to taxpayers as scheduled.”

JANUARY 29: President Donald Trump is scheduled to give his annual State of the Union to Congress. Typically used by the president to outline his goals for the year, a continued shutdown would likely be the major focus while Trump gives a speech meant to look ahead.

FEBRUARY 4: The president has to submit his budget proposal to Congress by the first Monday in February. If the shutdown continues, typical agency input on what that proposal should include won’t be available and the budget process for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will be stalled.

FEBRUARY: Low income households can receive food aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. The shutdown could eventually put more than 40 million people at risk of having their benefits dry up, but the agriculture department said Tuesday it will pay February benefits and is looking at ways to continue aid in March.

FEBRUARY: States, which rely on federal funding for big chunks of their budgets, will start to feel the sting as money for highways, community programs and other services could be delayed.

Kate Irby is based in Washington, D.C. and reports on issues important to McClatchy’s California newspapers, including the Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee and Modesto Bee. She previously reported on breaking news in D.C., politics in Florida for the Bradenton Herald and politics in Ohio for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.